New Brunswick, N.J. (April 29, 2019) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick Physicist Sang-Hyuk Lee can provide insight on optical tweezers – an instrument that uses a focused laser beam to trap, hold and move microscopic objects that previously had been too tiny to touch.
Lee’s device allows him to examine live plant cells in “unprecedented molecular detail” for a project that could help break new ground in the development of biofuels. He also can generate ultra-high resolution images of neuron development for research aimed at finding improved treatments for degenerative diseases.
Optical tweezers can move and manipulate particles smaller than a micron. A strand of human hair is about 75 microns wide. The instrument was invented by Arthur Ashkin, one of three pioneers in laser physics to win the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Lee, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, School of Arts and Sciences, has added advanced microscopy techniques so the device can examine and visualize the tiniest molecules. He is using the innovative instrument for several federally funded research projects that combine elements of physics and biology. The device is far more versatile than commercially available models because Lee integrated a number of advanced optics techniques, including use of multiple lasers, and a technology known as super resolution fluorescence microscopy, which won the 2014 Nobel in Chemistry for producing higher resolution images than conventional light microscopes.
After arriving at Rutgers in 2015, Lee designed and built the mammoth instrument that’s now housed within a glass enclosure in a laboratory at the Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine on Busch Campus in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Full story with photos: http://go.rutgers.edu/2hwh5x7q
Lee is available to comment at [email protected]
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